I'll be keeping an eye on his new blog: Cognitive Frequency: Music and Thoughts About It.
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As our summer intern, Ariel Bitran proved tireless, helping to make the 2008 Stereophile Buyer's Guide our biggest, most beautiful, and most comprehensive yet. His spirit—youthful, enthusiastic, passionate, curious, goofy—was stimulating and infectious. It was great to have him around, and I've enjoyed watching as his interest in hi-fi grows.
Shaking his head and smiling, he says:
"I'm just having so much fun. Digging through my records, finding albums that I'd forgotten about, picking anything that might sound good, listening to everything from jazz to blues to rock to metal to classical...."
He pauses, and then:
"The system just sounds great. I'm hearing things in new ways. It changes everything."
Two founding fathers of salsa, Johnny Pacheco and Eddie Palmieri, discuss the history of their wonderful musical style and the birth of the Fania record label in this interesting and entertaining interview with Latino USA's Maria Hinojosa.
Starting with only $2500, Johnny Pacheco and his partner, Jerry Masucci, built a family of musicians that would sell out venues as large as Yankees Stadium and Madison Square Garden, and go on to travel around the world with their exciting new music.
Pacheco recalls traveling to Zaire for a performance during the historic Muhammad Ali-…
I loved the way the band worked together—how each member lifted every other, and how each member excelled during solos—but I was most impressed by the locked-in rhythm section, and especially Pedro Martinez on congas. His hands turned into light, racing across the conga heads, speeding away from everything else—the stage, the room, the cold night—while remaining right on time.
I sat at the bar and ordered a Brooklyn Winter.
Dizzy's is a wonderful venue for live music. The slightly elevated stage rests against the cold glass wall, which offers a marvelous view of Columbus Circle, glowing all red and white and constant. The room is oasis-shaped—curving all around, narrowing and widening. Reservations are required to sit at one of the many tables that occupy the floor, but the view is excellent from any of the tall chairs that line the curved walls extending from the entrance and working all the way around to the bar.
Arturo O'Farrill…
The wind rushed hard and cold as I emerged from the Columbus Circle station.
It takes a moment to find your place. Be careful to follow the curves. There are long twisting streaks of red and white light, tall glass buildings rocketing high into the night sky, vehicles and tourists and locals moving in every direction. Search for Broadway, search for 60th. Turn slowly until you see the sign:
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER
ROSE HALL
You'll see it. Once you're inside, take about ten steps forward and turn right. An older, well-dressed woman will press the button…
A study published in the open source science journal PLoS One investigates the neural processes of jazz improvisation. Johns Hopkins neuroscientists put piano players in a fMRI scanner with a special keyboard and asked them to perform different five-finger exercises: play a scale, play a melody, and improvise on either the scale or the melody.
(The study used a very simple definition of improvisation: "Subjects improvised in quarter notes only, selecting all notes from within one octave and from the C major scale notes alone . . . . For jazz's improvisation condition, subjects improvised…
Yesterday's episode of Sunday Morning on CBS included a segment with Herbie Hancock, whose River: The Joni Letters won two big prizes at the 50th annual Grammy Awards: Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album.
I'm sort of sorry to say that, for some time, my idea of Herbie Hancock had been inextricably tied to terrifying images of masturbating mannequins, some turntable scratching, and a goofy-sounding Moog.
I was five years old. To this day, the word "rockit" sends me to a very weird place, makes me feel kind of icky, totally creeps me out. After seeing the…
From left to right: Selfdivider, AlexO, Jules Coleman, JackCrank, and Jeff Wong. Friday, February 29, 2008, at In Living Stereo.
It was a simple suggestion, innocent and kind and simple. Forum member Selfdivider had expressed an interest in vinyl, so Jeff Wong proposed a night out. A few of us would get together to visit some of the city's hi-fi dealers, listen to a couple of turntables, who knows, maybe even have a few beers. Not only would it be informative and useful for a beginner audiophile like Selfdivider, it would be a great opportunity for some of the forum members to…
Christian wrote:
Stephen, thanks for a much earlier post that drew my attention to the folks at ALO. I picked up one of their docking stations. It looks great—the wood almost matches the trim on my amp.
My pleasure, Christian, but I didn't even know that ALO made wood docking stations! To find out more, I sent an e-mail to ALO's Ken Ball.
The Fidelity iPod docking stations have been available since just before Christmas, and they are beautiful. A solid block of wood is CNC-machined and finished with a hard enamel coating. ALO offers six different…